The present invention relates to an improved technique for treatment of hemorrhoids. A number of techniques have been employed in the past, including surgical excision, banding and cryosurgery.
In the rubber band ligation technique, a specially designed proctoscope functions as the drum of a ligator and carries a rubber band around its tip. The hemorrhoid is then drawn into the proctoscope by forceps, and the band slipped off the tip of the proctoscope onto the neck of the hemorrhoid. The rubber band cuts off the blood supply to the hemorrhoidal tissue, resulting in necrosis. The banding technique can only be used for internal hemorrhoids, located above (i.e., internally of) the pectinate line which divides the more externally located somatic nervous system from the more internally located zone of the autonomic nervous system which does not carry pain sensations.
The cryosurgical technique involves the application of a probe which is at sub-zero necrosis-producing temperature to the surface of the hemorrhoidal tissue. Carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide is used as a refrigerant in such tools. The gas is supplied under pressure to the tip of the probe, where expansion of the gas causes a rapid removal of heat from the tip of the probe. Heat is similarly rapidly removed, by conduction, from the target tissue to which the probe has been applied.
While lasers have been described for treatment of venereal warts in the rectum, which are very small lesions as compared with the tissue mass of a hemorrhoid, lasers have not to Applicant's knowledge been suggested for treatment of hemorrhoids. Furthermore, it is difficult to use a laser on interior hemorrhoids, because the need to work through a proctoscope makes access and proper focusing of the beam difficult.
While the separate use of the banding and cryosurgery techniques described above have achieved adequate success in some cases, they have been unsuccessful in others. It is the primary purpose of the present invention to provide an improved method of treating hemorrhoids, which method is safe and capable of achieving a high rate of success.